Zengakuren: Japan's revolutionary students

This is an excellent historical introduction to the period of Japanese student radicalism that began after the war in the wake of the increasingly ineffective strategies of the Japanese Communist Party and which culminated in massive social unrest and change around the Japanese school system and society in general.

Chapters:

1. Historical Background
2. Origins of Zengakuren
3. The Anti-Ampo Struggle
4. Ro Struggle
4. The University Problem
5. The University Struggles
6. Kakumaru - Portrait of an Ultra-Radical Group
7. The Future...?
Who's Who in Zengakuren and the Youth Movement in 1969

Attached files

Comments

Interesting posts spread over a number of years. Are you following the Hosei University caper at the moment? It's no caper. 94 students arrested over the past 3 years.

In short, Hosei was one of the strongholds of Zengakuren, if not the stronghold ( as I'm sure you are aware). The administration at the uni along with the authorities are trying to drive the revolutionary communists and associated trade unionists out of the institution. They have closed student circles, withdrawn meeting facilities and harassed student "leaders". This has affected non-political circles and the authorities have pissed off regular groups in the uni such as sports circles who are now behind radicals in Zengakuren in their free speech fight. Having said that, there has been a certain amount of manipulation and exaggeration as well as opportunism on the part of Zegakuren who are driven by Chukakuha . They are, however, not wrong in what they are calling for and are definitely being persecuted.

This action at Hosei by the authorities is symptomatic of the government here taking advantage of the war on terror and move towards surveillance societies to mop up any vestiges of left radicalism here - as well as using up unnecessarily assigned budgets. Another, not unconnected occurrence and example of the Japanese authorities hammering down nails that stick up is the new law being proposed by Tokyo Metropolitan governor Shintaro Ishihara to limit street performances etcetera as a means for the police to persecute the anarchist, libertarian and left communists who have taken to imitating UK movements such as Reclaim the Streets of the the 90's in their use of sound trucks and festival type demos. The Freeters union and the Freedom and Survival Coalition along with a loose network of other groups such as NoVox first started using these methods about five years back and have attracted the attention of the cops who don't have much in the way of "subversives" to deal with.

Anyway, below is a message I received from sources on the Hosei shinanigans and the appalling treatment of the arrested students.

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